


Courtship

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, Humor, Inspired by Poetry, Klingon stuff, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 23:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20299903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: Tom needs some help courting B'Elanna.





	Courtship

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month 2019, Day 18. The prompt is "poetry."

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Tom came barging into Harry's quarters without even bothering to signal. "This is it!" he said, waving a padd around.

"What?" Harry put his clarinet down. It seemed practice was over, at least for today.

"The key to B'Elanna's heart." Tom took his favorite seat on Harry's couch, holding the padd like it was his dearest treasure.

"What is it, a technical manual?" Harry sat down next to Tom. 

Tom grinned. "Sort of. It's a Klingon romance novel." 

Harry took it and read a few lines. "The sound of his voice inflamed her soul. Passion surged in her blood, driving her to pick up a chair and fling it at him. He adroitly avoided it, and began reciting the second stanza, arousing her irresistibly. Overwhelmed, she desperately searched for something else to throw." Harry stopped reading. "Tom, you have got to be kidding."

"She loves this stuff. It's traditional for a man courting a Klingon woman to recite poetry while she throws things at him."

"A lot of people like things in books and holoprograms they wouldn't like in real life," Harry said. 

"Hey, it's worth a shot. You have to help me."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because you're my best friend, and B'Elanna's, too. You can help me pick the right poem."

"I'm not B'Elanna's best friend. Chakotay is."

"But he hates me. I'm depending on you, Har."

"Tom, you don't need a gimmick. Just tell her how you feel." He was pretty sure B'Elanna liked Tom, and wouldn't say no if he just asked her out.

"That works for people like you. Everyone likes you. I need a gimmick."

Harry shook his head. He suspected Tom was going about this all wrong. Then again, Tom's love life was a lot more successful than Harry's, at least going by quantity, so maybe he was right. "What poem were you thinking of?" he asked, half-expecting it to be something that started "There once was a man from Nantucket."

Tom produced another padd, and began reading from it. 

_But at my back I always hear_  
_Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;_  
_And yonder all before us lie_  
_Deserts of vast eternity._  
_Thy beauty shall no more be found,_  
_Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound_  
_My echoing song: then worms shall try_  
_That long preserved virginity,_  
_And your quaint honour turn to dust,_  
_And into ashes all my lust:_  
_The grave's a fine and private place,_  
_But none, I think, do there embrace._

Harry recognized the poem. "'To His Coy Mistress'? Why that one?"

"According to the computer, it's a classic seduction poem," Tom said. "And that part about the worms...Klingons really like worms."

Harry was speechless for a moment. Finally, he said, "You're right, Tom. It's perfect. Tell B'Elanna that, and there's a very good chance she will start throwing heavy objects at you."

**Author's Note:**

> With sincere apologies to the ghost of Andrew Marvell.


End file.
